Tag Archive: offshore

This review of the Wavewalk S4 kayak skiff was written by the guy who designed it, as well as the W500 and W700.

Why this Wavewalk S4 review?

Typically, kayak and boat reviews are written by clients who mean what they say, but aren’t necessarily professional, or by people that the manufacturer paid to review their product. The latter reviews are not objective to begin with, and in many cases they are not even professional. Designers seldom publish reviews of the kayak or boat that they designed. Other reviews commonly found on the web are fake, and they were written by individuals who are affiliated with the manufacturer of the reviewed product (fake positive reviews) or with their competitors (fake negative reviews). Some fake reviews that appear on websites that offer people to publish kayak and boat reviews appear to have been written under an alias by the website owners, probably in order to make their website look more popular than it is in reality.

Wavewalk does not pay people to review its products, and it does not post anonymous reviews on websites that offer to do so to anyone who can come up with an alias and a few sentences. We think that such websites have a low credibility from the beginning, and their credibility has declined over the years, as people who read the reviews that these websites feature have become used to apply critical reading, and common sense.

We decided to publish our own review of the Wavewalk S4 after it’s been out there for nearly a year, which is enough time for us to see what it can do, and what our clients think of it (Read S4 clients’ reviews » ). In this review of the S4, we try to compare our initial plans for this boat to what it does in reality, and we also try to look into the future, as much as possible, and see what it could still do. Many Wavewalk clients are interested in the design of kayak and small boats, and we think that such people may have a particular interest in reading this review.

Why the Wavewalk S4?

It takes close to a hundred thousand dollars to produce a new product such as the S4 in terms of time and money invested in the design and manufacturing of a capital tooling (rotational mold) for it. Once the product is out there, it takes more time and money to test and promote it. This means that before a small company decides to invest in the development of such a product, it needs to make sure that it has a good reason to do so, and preferably more than one good reason.

Before we started defining the requirements from a future Wavewalk product, we looked at existing products in various markets, including our own W700 that we had launched back in August of 2015 –

The W700

From the moment we launched it, the W700 became an immediate, remarkable success, both as a tandem kayak for touring and fishing (and hunting, photography, etc..) and as an ultralight portable motorboat / microskiff. This success gave us the motivation and the funds to take the Wavewalk concept to the next level. Our clients loved to motorize their W700, but few were willing to give up paddling altogether, and this convinced us that paddling was important, so we decided that our next product, namely the S4, will be more of a high performance, fast and seaworthy motorboat with a bigger payload capacity, but it would still offer good paddling capabilities as a kayak and a canoe. Another thing that our clients love in their W700 was the ability to car-top it without a problem, and this meant that the next Wavewalk had to be a car-top boat too.

Other boats

Before we started to design the S4, we looked at different products in a number of markets, and tried to identify unfulfilled needs as well as opportunities for our new product –

Jon boats – These popular small motorboats feature a generally flat bottom hull and a spacious open cockpit, and they usually offer sufficient stability for a crew of one person, on flat water. When the crew includes more than one person, or the water gets choppy, these boats tend to deliver insufficient stability, and generally speaking, they are not seaworthy, including bigger and therefore more stable models that are stable enough on flat water. Since Jon boats are typically made from aluminum, they are not lightweight enough to be car topped, at least not by one person. And last but not least, paddling a Jon boat is not an option, at least not over a meaningful distance, so these boats are excluded from traveling in very shallow (dubbed “skinny”) water, and in water where much vegetation is to be found – unless they are outfitted with a surface drive (a.k.a. “mud motor”), which is typically more heavy than a standard outboard motor, and takes more room in the cockpit. The next Wavewalk had to offer as much carrying capacity as a good size Jon boat, while being at least as stable, and considerably more seaworthy. This had to be achieved while keeping the new product from being overly wide, since wide boats don’t paddle well. Needless to say that the new boat couldn’t be nearly as heavy as a Jon boat, since it had to be car-topped by one person. We achieved all this with the S4, and more, including successfully outfitting an S4 with a surface drive, as demonstrated by Chris Henderson, from Washington state.

Microskiffs – Small skiffs (“microskiffs”) are generally similar to Jon boats, and they too are designed mainly for fishing on flat water. The main differences are in the material used to make skiffs (typically fiberglass), and typical additional deck features and structures. These differences reflect the fact that microskiffs are used primarily in saltwater, which is corrosive for aluminum, and the fact that people who fish out of microskiffs like to practice sight fishing. Microskiffs don’t paddle well, to say the least, and they are too heavy to be car-topped, including a product that’s essentially a rotationally molded motorized board for a single user who’s not particularly heavy, and who fishes in flat water only. The next Wavewalk had to feature a front deck, for casting, go as fast as a small microskiff, and be more seaworthy – All this while offering its users to launch anywhere, namely to transport it on top of a vehicle, and not by trailer. We did it.

Motorized kayaks – Since both the W500 and W700 had already surpassed all products in this category, we deemed motorized kayaks too lame to serve as a basis for formulating requirements for a next generation Wavewalk. This is true for all but one pretty exciting kayak-like product for one person that’s officially designated as a boat, and is propelled by a 7 HP jet drive. When we weighed the pros and cons of a proprietary jet drive and compared them to the advantages offered by outboard motors, it became clear to us that the latter were the way to go, due to their initial cost, ease of troubleshooting, low maintenance, and high quality as well as effective local service offered to our clients. As for speed, we decided that the next Wavewalk would have to be at least as fast as that exciting jet-drive kayak-like watercraft, and if people had a special need to drive their S4 in extremely shallow water, they could outfit their new Wavewalk with a surface drive (mud motor), which works better than a jet drive, since it doesn’t get clogged. The next Wavewalk had to be a car-top boat, and portable in terms of carrying it over rugged terrain, something that said jet drive kayak-style watercraft is not. The new Wavewalk also had to be seaworthy, and transport at least two full size adult passengers, which that jet driven kayak style boat cannot do. We achieved all that.

Personal Watercraft (PWC) – Such comparison may seem odd at first sight, but Wavewalks and PWC share one important feature, which is their longitudinal saddle seats that offer their users to balance themselves in the most intuitive and efficient way, and enhance their boats’ performance both in terms of stability and seaworthiness. In this sense, it was appropriate for us to think about PWC, and establish some requirements from the new product that would have nothing to do with fishing or paddling, but would go to what people like in PWC, namely speed, seaworthiness, and fun. We realized that in order for an S4 to reach speeds that are close to the speed of a small, basic PWC, the S4 would have to be outfitted not just with an extremely powerful outboard motor, but also with a proper steering and control system to go with it, be it a wheel or a bar, something that hasn’t been done, so far. Captain Larry Jarboe clocked 17 mph in an S4 powered by a 9.8 HP outboard motor, and the same boat was driven at full throttle offshore in choppy seas, with the drivers holding the throttle grip in one hand. In comparison, a typical PWC can go at 40-50 mph, and the faster ones can go at much higher speeds. Something to think about… On the other hand, an S4 is much less expensive than a PWC, including small ones designed for one person, and it is also more versatile.

Inflatable dinghies – These fast, stable and seaworthy boats are popular with yacht and big boat owners, who use them as boat tenders. But these small inflatable boats are uncomfortable for their driver and passengers, who find it hard to stay dry in them, and they don’t paddle well. As for standing in them, it is not easy either. Compared to them, the W500 and even the W700 were inferior in terms of load capacity and speed, but neither of these is a problem with the S4, with its carrying capacity of 650 lbs and the high speed in which it can go, even in choppy water. Simply, the S4 is as seaworthy as a good size inflatable dinghy, while being drier, more comfortable, and offering better paddling and standing capabilities. The S4’s polyethylene hulls are more durable and dependable than the soft hulls of inflatable boats, and clients who use an S4 as a boat tender report the highest degree of satisfaction, even when they tow the S4 behind the mother ship, which is the kind of performance that we weren’t sure it would achieve when we started designing it.

Other considerations

Keeping the kayak designation and paddling functionality – In order to make it easier for our dealers to sell the S4, and for our clients to register it, we wanted to keep its design within the requirements that would designate it as a kayak, and not as a boat, and that wasn’t hard to do. We also wanted to keep the S4 work as a paddle craft, which we achieved by making the sides of the cockpit slant, thus allowing the paddlers to move their paddles more closely, easily, and effectively alongside the kayak.

A motorboat’s look – On the other hand, we wanted to distance the S4 as much as possible from the image of a kayak, because in comparison to motorboats, kayaks are sluggish, uncomfortable, unstable, and wet. Therefore, we got rid of all deck rigging items that are typical to kayaks, namely eyelets, hooks, bungees, rubber carry handles, and even flush mounted rod holders. The S4 comes with two integrated (molded-in) carry handles in its front tip, and a molded-in carry handle on each side of its rear hull tips. These molded-in carry handles are stronger than kayak handles that are riveted or bolted to the deck, they are as comfortable, and they look better.

Keeping the S4 cost low – The rotational mold for the S4’s twin hull cost more that the mold for a typical full-size SOT kayak. We also had to mold the saddle for the S4, but luckily, we managed to design it in a way that allows us to use the same saddle as the one used in the W700. This saved us tens of thousands of dollars on a mold for an S4 saddle, and we were able to keep the S4 unit price within a reasonable range, considering its high performance in so many applications.

Building it tough – Carrying heavier loads while going at higher speeds meant that the S4 would have to be tougher than the W700, which is why we decided to incorporate two wooden brackets in every S4, standard, compared to just one similar structural element in the W700.

The motor mount challenge – The S4 is made from high density polyethylene, similarly to other kayaks as well as a motorized board offered as a one-person skiff. Polyethylene is a resilient material, which makes it highly resistant to impact, but this critical advantage comes at a cost, which is that polyethylene walls tend to be flexible relatively to similar structures made from more rigid materials, e.g. fiberglass and wood. We knew that a motor mount that would serve to attach to the S4 heavy and powerful motors that generate a lot of torque couldn’t be made from polyethylene only. If we wanted such mount not to flex, it should feature a totally rigid and very sturdy mounting plate, made from the right materials for the job. This is why we created the S4’s motor mount with a broad basis molded in polyethylene, and a mounting plate made from a wooden composite named Medium Density Overlay (MDO), which has served us successfully for years in the W500 and W700. The basis of the S4’s motor mount structure is firmly anchored on both its sides in the boat’s two hulls, and it is bolted both to the cockpit’s rear wall and to the saddle’s rear wooden bracket, whose top is inserted into the cockpit’s spray deflector (coaming). So far, this combination of polyethylene structures, wood composite board, and steel, has proved itself to work under difficult conditions, with powerful motors running at full throttle, and the boat going at high speed in ocean waves.

Conception, birth, and growth

A new boat often starts as ideas that the designer’s mind generates in reaction to external stimuli, such as impressions, challenges or compliments. The general idea and major challenge with the S4 was to create a boat like which the world has never seen before, and no one had thought would be possible. We knew the Wavewalk invention would guarantee that whichever design we choose for a Wavewalk boat that’s wider than the W700, it would automatically become the world’s most stable kayak, as well as the world’s most stable boat for its size. Within this framework, we still had a lot of things to think about, including –

The new front deck – The main challenge was to depart from the previous ‘catamaran’ look, and create a front that would still perform as a twin-hull (catamaran), but offer some protection from spray as the boat goes in waves at high speed. The totally redesigned bow had to feature a front deck that would serve as a casting platform, similarly to casting decks that skiffs feature. Since we knew that the S4 would serve crews of two and possibly three anglers, a deck extending in front of the cockpit would also serve to put more distance between crew members, and thus make the boat both more functional and more comfortable for them to fish from. This is to say that the S4’s new style of front deck is the result of both aesthetic and ergonomic, namely practical considerations. Developing these ideas and turning them into a computer aided design (CAD) file required months of hard work, plenty of problem solving, and innovative thinking.

Displacement hull vs. planing hull – Understanding this subject requires some knowledge in kayak and/or boat design. The problem we addressed was that paddle craft (canoes, kayaks, etc.) travel at very low speeds, and the most efficient hull form for such low power propulsion and low speeds is called a displacement hull. In contrast, motorboats travel at much higher speeds, and people who drive them like to travel in a planing mode. The most efficient type of hull form for a small motorboat is a type of hull called planing hull. The S4 was required to serve both as a paddle craft and a motorboat, and do well in both applications. We realized that unlike the W700, most people who use the S4 would choose to motorize it, so we designed its hulls in a way that would offer top performance with a powerful motor, and still paddle well enough, and this is basically what the S4 has achieved in reality – One person can paddle it effectively and easily without reaching high speed, but they can also drive it with an outboard motor that’s powerful enough to propel bigger and heavier boats, and go at speeds that are considered high even by small boat standards, and inconceivable in kayak terms. Being big for a kayak, the S4 paddles better with a tandem crew than it does in a solo mode. It paddles equally well in canoeing and kayaking modes. In sum, the W700 is a great kayak that you can effectively motorize, while the S4 is a great motorboat that you can effectively paddle. It’s a subtle difference that’s worth remembering if you’re not sure which of these two models is better for you.

Launching the product, and testing it – We launched the S4 in May of 2017, and since then, the S4 has kept growing in terms of proving what it’s capable of doing. We were pleased to see that a 214 lbs guy could easily stand with both feet in one of the S4 hulls, and turn around, without flipping the boat, and without even making it tilt by much. We were more pleased to see three adult paddlers standing in it and paddling without any problem. But we were astonished to see three full-size guys fish standing out of a motorized S4, with one of them landing a good size fish in the boat. Many thanks to Mike Silva for these amazing pictures! We loved watching the videos that showed the S4 driven through lily pads, propelled with a surface drive powered by a 6.5 HP motor. But driving an S4 powered by a 9.8 HP going at full throttle was a blast, and it was such a smooth drive that it certainly opened the door for testing it with more powerful motors, as a couple S4 owners already said they will do.

Multi-boat configuration – Another innovative and inspiring development was Captain Larry Jarboe’s S4x3 multi-boat, composed of a motorized S4 hip-towing (side towing) an S4 on each side, and thus allowing the driver to transport a much larger number of passengers, in full comfort, and with the stability of a large size pontoon boat. Captain Jarboe uses the S4x3 multi-boat for his guided diving tours in Key Largo.

Big boats, seaworthiness, maintenance, etc. – Interestingly, the S4 is already used, successfully, as an alternative to full-size skiffs. Its users prefer their S4s to the large size boats that they had previously used because of its easy launching, shallow draft, and better seaworthiness in choppy water. Indeed, we found that if you happen to get seasick in a boat going or anchored in the chop, riding the saddle of an S4 would instantly cure you, whether you’re driving it or just taking a ride in it as a passenger. The S4 is practically immune to other motorboats’ wakes, including big and fast boats traveling at a short distance from it, and this is not an exaggeration but an accurate description of a pleasant reality. And the S4 works as a paddle craft, so that it’s practically impossible to get stranded at low tide when you fish from it. Another reason to prefer the S4 over a full size boat is that it’s totally maintenance free, and if you’ve never owned a boat, it would probably be hard for you to appreciate the importance of this fact.

Spray shield – It turned out that when one person drives the S4, even at high speed, and even in the chop, the hulls and front deck deflect much of the spray that’s generated when they hit waves. However, when a passenger sits in front of the S4 driver, their weight lowers the bow, and it tends to generate more spray when it hits waves. And this is when a spray shield can still be useful.

A new type of watercraft – The S4 has already shown that it’s a new type of watercraft with a performance envelope that sets it apart from all boats of similar size. But it still has room to grow, in the sense of showing that it’s capable of more. We’ve already mentioned more exploits with mud motors, as well as bigger and more powerful outboard motors. We’d also like to show how a sculling (shell rowing) coach from Massachusetts uses his S4 as a coaching boat because he’s found that it generates a much smaller wake than other boats of similar size, and a small wake is the name of the game when coaching this sport is concerned. On the other side of the performance spectrum, we should find an opportunity to run the S4 in rough seas with inflatable flotation modules attached to its sides, RHIB style (RHIB stands for rigid hull inflatable boat). And on a completely different angle, we’re waiting for clients who use their S4 in whitewater, as a guide boat and a raft, to send us pictures too.

Extreme efficiency with a 1:6 weight to load ratio (payload ratio) – The S4 weighs a little less than 100 lbs without a motor, and it can carry a payload of over 650 lbs including a motor. This is a solid 1:6 weight to load ratio that shows how efficient the S4 design is.

Bottom line

We could have talked more about our S4, but with 3,700 words, this review is getting too long for a reasonable person to read – Thank you for making it this far 🙂

By Magnus Chung

San Francisco Bay Area, California

I finally got a chance to take the S4 out and test it on the water. It’s working beautifully with the Honda 2.3 engine. We actually have 3 people seat in it comfortably and both paddling and using the motor works quite well.

We launched the S4 at a rocky beach, and dragging the S4 over the sharp rocks caused some scratches on the bottom of the S4. This is a minor issue, and I’ve decided not to worry about it 🙂

Overall, I am very satisfied with the S4. Great Kayak and I can’t wait to show it off to my friends on the next fishing trip!

I was too busy with the S4. There aren’t any pics while the S4 is cruising in the water since all three of us were in the S4 and didn’t have anyone to take pictures from the shore. Here are some of the pics my friend took on the beach –

UPDATE – August 2018

I have been taking the S4 to many fishing and clamming trips and it’s working great and impressed a lot of people! A couple times we encountered bigger than expected swells so if it wasn’t the S4, we would have tipped over for sure. Most of the people who ride on it confirmed the S4 is the most stable kayak compared to everything they have seen. One small thing I noticed is that when we have close to max load on the S4 in the bigger waves, the water splashes front and gets in the cockpit, so I think the splash shield may help with this.

Kayak, skiff, or PWC?

“Kayak”??… This is likely to be the last thing that comes to mind of anyone watching this movie, but indeed, the S4, like all Wavewalk’s patented catamaran boats, is officially designated as a kayak, not just because of its light weight (98 lbs) and high performance as a paddle craft, but mainly thanks to certain design features required by law. Skiff?… The kind of performance seen in this movie is not what you’d expect from a skiff or skiff by name. Wavewalk likes to bring forward the S4’s performance as a skiff, namely a fishing boat for flat water, but there’s no flat water to be seen in this offshore movie… far from that! PWC?… Such comparison would have been more appropriate if we used wheel steering instead of direct steering with the tiller, and possibly an even more powerful motor than the 9.8 HP Tohatsu that features in this movie. Nevertheless, the movie conveys some of the action and excitement associated with Personal Watercraft (PWC), sometimes referred to as jet-skis.

PWC stability at high speed

This video shows the Wavewalk S4 powered by a 9.8 HP Tohatsu outboard motor, driven at full throttle, offshore, in choppy water and waves. It demonstrates a performance level that’s new in the world of small boats and watercraft, including both unrivaled speed and stability that enables stand-up driving and wave-hopping that one expects to find only in Personal Watercraft (PWC).

Perfect balancing and ergonomic saddle seat

The Wavewalk design and PWC have one feature in common, which is their similar saddle seats that deliver the best balancing capabilities to the driver and passengers. But the advantage of the saddle seat doesn’t end there – The saddle also allows the driver and passengers’ legs to act naturally as powerful and effective shock absorbers that protect their backs from the unwanted impact of the constant leaps and bounds, and high speed clashes with waves.

Being officially designated as a kayak, the S4 delivers these capabilities in a paddling mode too, although at much lower speeds…

A most seaworthy small boat

The performance seen in this video is not the kind of performance that flat-bottomed boats such as Jon boats or skiffs can deliver. The S4 is seaworthy, while these traditional small fishing boats aren’t. What cannot be well perceived from watching this movie is the fact that the S4 is dry too – Frontal clashes with waves do not let water into its hulls, and the only time when spray gets in is when the boat is hits a wave with its broadside. Even then, very little water gets inside.

Shooting this video

The cameraman was Captain Larry Jarboe, standing on the deck of his fishing boat, the Line Dancer, that was anchored in the same choppy waters as the S4 is seen going in. The Line Dancer was constantly bouncing and tilting, which made it particularly difficult to shoot video of another, distant and fast moving small boat. Larry used a Nikon Coolpix 900 digital camera with a powerful x83 optical zoom lens, in an auto-focus mode, but since placing this camera on a tripod would have been useless under these hectic conditions, Larry’s sea legs were the decisive factor that helped produce the video footage for this movie.

The White Knight – Larry’s workhorse S4

The boat in this movie is Larry’s personal S4, dubbed the White Knight. Larry offers fishing and diving tours in Key Largo, and it is this boat that he uses in these trips, and on a daily basis. The White Knight features a base for a diving ladder at the bow, and foam boards on its sides, since Larry sometimes uses it to side-tow two other S4s,each attached to a different side of the White Knight.

The White Knight is powered by a 9.8 HP 2-cycle Tohatsu outboard motor, and Larry recently clocked 17 mph with it, which is a world speed record for kayaks.

Driving the S4

The S4 operator in this movie is 56 years old, and not in great shape. An athletic driver half his age would have probably driven the S4 more aggressively and spectacularly, but that tired-looking, gray haired driver adds a feeling of reality to the video, or so we hope…

Skiff design, built, main advantages, and noteworthy shortcomings

Skiffs come in different sizes and configurations, and similarly to Jon boats, they are flat bottomed mono-hulls, a feature that reduces draft, which is advantageous for fishing in shallow water. But this design feature also makes skiffs less seaworthy compared to other boats of similar size. This is yet another example of specialization that enhances the product’s performance in one application while diminishing its performance in others. Skiffs’ limited seaworthiness is the reason for their being unpopular as boats for offshore fishing, and opinions about their performance in bays and estuaries are mixed. The skiff design’s limited seaworthiness is one of the reasons why owners of big boats and yachts don’t use small skiffs dubbed microskiff as tenders. Typically, skiffs’ hulls are molded from fiberglass, mainly because this material is more durable in saltwater than aluminum, which is the most common building material in Jon boats. However, fiberglass doesn’t perform well in terms of impact resistance, and it requires maintenance, while other polymer resins (plastics) such as Polyethylene don’t. Fiberglass is also heavier than Polyethylene, too heavy to make a small skiff that’s lightweight enough to be transported on top of a vehicle’s roof, namely a portable skiff. Skiffs are propelled by one or more outboard motors mounted at their stern.

Typical skiff features

Depending on a skiff’s size and level of outfitting, it may feature a center console, a casting platform at its front, and a tall structure at the stern, for a person to use for poling and/or for sighting fish for one or more anglers fishing from the deck. Skiff are sometimes outfitted with an electric trolling motor, typically mounted at their bow. The main advantages of a frontal casting platform are that it offers the angler a broader range of casting, be it with bait, lures, flies, or a fishing net, and it puts a bigger distance between them and other fishers working from the middle of the deck. The main advantage of a center console is that it improves the driver’s comfort and stability, relatively to driving from the stern, and it allows them to drive standing. Poling is both exhausting and rather ineffective as a mode of propulsion, and therefore increasingly unpopular among anglers who fish the flats and other shallow water. This leaves the poling platform to serve mainly as a watchtower, and possibly as an ornament. Electric trolling motors are quiet, and they can be controlled remotely, which is one of the reasons that more skiff owners use them these days.

Microskiff – a class of very small small skiffs

Microskiff is a term that refers to compact skiffs, namely of small size, and typically of reduced features as well. The smaller size saves money on gas and maintenance, but the need to transport microskiffs on a trailer still presents a challenge in terms of launching and beaching, as well as storage. At the lowest end of microskiffs both in terms of size and price, is a group of large size boards, some of which feature backward pointing extensions that provide extra support for the outboard motor’s weight, and some that don’t. These boards usually offer enough stability and load capacity for just one user (I.E. “solo” skiff), and they hardly offer any free board, which pretty much guarantees that this user will get soaked, whether they like it or not. As far as comfort is concerned, these large size boards marketed as microskiffs or “solo” skiffs seem to be designed with no concern for ergonomics whatsoever, to a point where watching a video featuring such a skiff might give the viewer an uneasy feeling. In terms of portability and transportation, their small size allows for an unusually strong person to transport one on a pickup truck bed, but car topping such a vessel is beyond reach for anyone who’s not a professional weight lifter. Most of these board type skiffs are molded from fiberglass or other cold-molded resins, which reduces their impact resistance, durability, and therefore reliability. The board skiff that’s made from Polyethylene weighs 150 lbs without the motor, which is still too heavy to rival the portability of most fishing kayaks and canoes, and let’s not forget that square-stern canoes can be outfitted with small outboard motors… Despite their small size, including a beam (width) that’s narrower than the beam of conventional skiffs, board skiffs do not paddle well, a factor that reduces their appeal to anglers who fish skinny water and water where aquatic vegetation abounds.

The Wavewalk S4 – the smallest and greatest skiff

In physical terms, the Wavewalk S4 is smaller and much lighter than any skiff, microskiff, and board skiff, and it its Polyethylene hull makes it more resistant to impact. It is the only skiff that anyone can car top without help from a second person. The S4 can carry up to three adult fishermen on board, which is comparable to the crew size of good size skiffs, and it enables these anglers to fish at the same time and standing up, which is something that only full fledged medium sized and bigger skiffs may offer. The S4 is a much seaworthy skiff that can be driven through ocean waves and other choppy waters without problems, both in a solo mode and with a second passenger on board. The patented combination of its twin-hull (catamaran) and saddle seat is extremely stable as well as easy for the users to balance, even more than a personal watercraft (PWC). In fact, driving an S4 in the ocean and in choppy water is pure fun. The S4 offers plenty of free board, which is good news for passengers who are looking to stay dry, and it is the only skiff that can serve as a tender for a big boat or a yacht. The S4 offers its passengers to use the entire internal space of its twin hulls for on board storage, and this makes its storage capacity rival with full fledged and good size skiffs. Like a full fledged skiff, the S4 can be easily outfitted with a front mounted electric trolling motor. And unlike any other skiff, including the smallest board-type microskiffs, or kayak skiffs, the S4 works really well as a paddle craft, namely kayak or canoe, to a point that some owners use it as a fishing kayak, without even motorizing it. Typically, the S4 is used with outboard motors in the 3.5 HP to 6 HP range, but it can be powered by bigger motors.

In sum, the S4 is a craft that’s so advanced in performance and versatility that it deserves a class of its own.

Wavewalk S4 driven in choppy blue water in the Atlantic ocean close to Key Largo, Florida. It was fun to drive this watercraft that seems to be almost immune to waves, wherever they come from. Hopping on waves and making sharp turns was easy solo and with a passenger on board.

As a skiff, it’s extremely seaworthy, and as a kayak it’s anything but 😀

We towed it behind the mother ship, and it was a pleasure to watch how well it behaved… It can serve as a perfect boat tender for a big boat or a yacht – It’s seaworthy, comfortable, fun to drive and to paddle, can be beached anywhere, and it can carry up to three people on board.

The S4 in this movie is under powered by a 3.5 HP outboard motor – A 6 HP outboard would have worked better in this case, but still, driving this ultralight microskiff in the chop was a lot of fun. Thankfully, the S4 is not a solo skiff, and driving it with a charming passenger on board was even more fun.

We didn’t have to outfit it with a spray shield, as hardly any spray got it.